random thoughts and ramblings of a woman in progress

personal development

For those of you whom are not aware, personal development is an activity that I should (I hate this word) engage in on a daily basis. In recent weeks, I have completely fallen of the wagon. I can’t even remember the last time I regularly and effectively did my personal development. That is not good. However, being great and staying on task is not about being better than someone else, rather being better than the person you were yesterday. With the way my day is currently shaking out, I’m already leaps an bounds ahead of Yesterday Maggie.

With that being said, I’m going to do my daily personal development first thing in the morning – with my shake in hand – and use this space to reflect on my readings and share with all of you in the process!

Today I read some pages from the Napoleon Hill classic, Think and Grow Rich.

This particular chapter covered the idea of knowledge and the importance of specialized knowledge. “Knowledge is power!” This is a phrase that most of us are familiar. Mr. Hill would respectfully disagree,

“Knowledge is only potential power. It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action, and directed to a definite end.”

Having knowledge and using that knowledge is where the real power lies. Unfortunately, our schooling tends to gives us only general knowledge, which has many merits on its own, but unfortunately does not translate into fattening your bank account. The book is called Think and Grow Rich for a reason! Using the knowledge you have is powerful, but this goes on step further. Having specialized knowledge, putting it into practice, this is where the real cash flow is going to come from. When you have a specialized knowledge base that differs from the majority of the population, you become a valuable commodity. People must come to you for this knowledge. People will want to use you for the knowledge and even pay you for it.

People tend to not see the value in something unless it has a price. When you continue your education (keep in mind, I’m not necessarily referring to formal education, but expanding your mind), you continue to grow, be better, be more knowledgable, be on the cutting edge. The average person does not do this. They wake up, go to work, come home, go to sleep, and repeat. Unfortunately, that is a dangerous activity, especially if you have BIG dreams

“The person who stops studying merely because he had finished school is forever hopelessly doomed to mediocrity, no matter what may be his (or her) calling. The way of success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge.” – Napoleon Hill